Arts ‘without the wank’: The Chop Shop

WITH just four days to go at the time of writing this story, a sensational new youth arts venue in Canberra has already surpassed its crowd funding objective of $10,000.

Sancho Murphy and Pat Rose

The pop-up ‘Chop Shop,’ described as “a venue to celebrate all forms of art from the fringe,” has already raised $12,353, (they’d like to reach $18,000) and will be funded on Saturday, July 26.

The brainchild of local identities Sancho Murphy and Pat Rose, The Chop Shop, they say, is here to enliven Canberra’s street culture with top artists every Friday night and next-level events every Saturday for the next four months.

“We want to redefine what it means to be a Canberran,” the pair say, adding, “We want to showcase the creative community that gives our city character.”

Murphy and Rose admit that other local bodies have similar aspirations, but argue. “Our execution is unique. Our team is born in the grassroots of local creativity and we will transform the space from within this context. We want to challenge the perception that Canberra is like a trip to your grandma’s house.”

The Chop Shop venue: before

The space they’re talking about is an abandoned warehouse in super-chic Lonsdale Street, Braddon that they’ve acquired for 4 months, with a total of 26 planned weekends of music, fashion, and fringe culture running up to the New Year.

As well as regenerating a dead space, they plan on making the venue entirely out of recycled materials—“with anything we can get our hands on, from pallets to bathtubs.”

The Chop Shop: after

It’ll be a place to support the arts, they promise, “but without the wank”.